Quite a day at Foster BJJ/Lotus Club on Saturday: a new, more spacious academy, two new black belts, three new brown belts and a handful of moves from Giva Santana, who heads Lotus Club out of Irvine, California in town to celebrate the new location.
Jeff B. was among the new brown belts, and you could tell that it was an emotional moment for him. They even did the "run the whipping belt gauntlet" thing, which was quite the spectacle of flagellation.
I think half the people at the academy were Gracie Barra folks from Ballard, Seattle and Buckley. It was good to see David from Buckley, who was very good to work with (and by now, I take my seminar training partners pretty seriously).
The moves from the seminar that stuck with me most were the guard pass and the moves to the back. The guard pass had you pin the same side shoulder by gripping both lapels low and driving them in that direction with a straight arm. With the back arm, you want to grip right on the knee, and then tuck your elbow. To open the guard, you sway back and forth for a little momentum, and then sprawl out, pinning the knee to the mat and using your hip on the other side to brace and keep the guard open. From here, step through and do a knee cross pass with the opposite leg to get to the side.
This pass reminded David of the Flat Pass, which I'm not sure I would have thought of if he hadn't mentioned it. It's got a similar, basic determination, and the idea of maximizing the angle as a way of opening the guard.
The other interesting moves were from the back. Giva liked a deep grip under the chest to the opposite lapel with the one hand, and a four-finger grip right behind the neck on the collar. These grips provided a lot of control and good choke set-ups.
The lapel grip is similar to something Rodrigo has shown us, using that grip as a pull to roll the guy out of turtle and into a position where you can take the back. One key is to get your knee in deep to block off the side you are pulling and rolling to.
There were two variations. The one had you take the back from here, and then attacking with the Ezekiel from the back. The second one had you drag the guy back into to you, as you settled into a half-side control/half north-south position with your head on the inside shoulder controling the arm. From here, you can choke by turning away and facing the legs. Make sure the behind the neck grip is good - you can afford to be patient and wait for it while you are keeping the head pressure on the near shoulder.
I would have liked to stick around a little longer, but there were so many people that it looked like it might be a battle for space during the open mat. But it was nice to see the new place, to be there to congratulate Jeff and the other guys who got promoted, and to learn a few nice new techniques and details. Suspecting that the seminar might not provide the most vigorous workout in the world, I managed to get in a make-up Threshold Training session this morning before the event. A good day of training and conditioning all around.
